Life in Lodo: Wynkoop, Mercantile & Brewing

 This is our lobby here in the Wynkoop Mercantile Loft building in Lower Downtown (LoDo) Denver. Last week, new light fixtures were put into the lobby. When I ran into the electrician installing them, he told me that the reason the buildings' beams are so huge and the ceilings so strong was to hold the weight of multiple horses, carts and stored goods that were transported up and down the 5 floors. Flour, eggs and the like were pulled by horses up and down the different levels and then loaded onto trains across the street at Union Station.

Through the glass window are the brewing bins of Wynkoop Brewing Company, a local microbrewery which is located in the same building. Our loft is above the pool hall of the brewery so, sometimes we get a 'concert.' You can smell the hops brewing about once a week or so. And last fall, one day on my lunch break, I came home and saw about 8 guys outisde pulling hops off vines. They had gone to pick them up at a farm out west and we making a limited edition brew.  The Wynkoop Brewing Company is a happening joint and is responsible for much of what the LoDo area is today.

This fella's shirt says "Brewer" on the back. You know he's dedicated to craft beer when he's working on a Sunday morning at 8 a.m. (mmmm. I hope it's the Two Guns Pilsner)

Sidewalk sign.

View from our window. The old Meadowland Butter building, Beatrice Creamery and the Icehouse building are lofts and condos today. They closed the icehouse in 1979 and supposedly when they went in three years later to renovate there was still thick ice on the walls.

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In case you're curious, ( I was)


Wynkoop was Denver's first Sheriff.

and according to the dictionary,

mer·can·tile/ˈmərkənˌtēl/

Adjective:	Of or relating to trade or commerce; commercial.
Noun:	A general store: "we walked to the local mercantile".